Eastern Orthodoxy in North America

Not to be confused with Oriental Orthodoxy in North America.

Eastern Orthodoxy in North America represents adherents, religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in North America, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Estimates of the number of Eastern Orthodox adherents in North America vary considerably depending on methodology (as well as the definition of the term "adherent").

The vast majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians in North America are in the U.S. and have roots in countries with current or historically large Orthodox communities, including those of Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, Albanian, Macedonian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Georgian, Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian, Israeli, and Egyptian ancestry; a growing number of adherents come from other Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries and from minorities of converted Americans and Canadians of Western European, African, Latin American, South Asian, East Asian, and South East Asian descent.

Statistically, Eastern Orthodox Christians are among the wealthiest Christian denominations in the United States, and tend to be better educated than most other religious groups in America, with a high number of graduate (68%) and post-graduate degrees (28%) per capita.

Early Russian Orthodox presence in the Americas

St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania

Russian traders settled in Alaska during the 18th century. In 1740, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated on board a Russian ship off the Alaskan coast. In 1794, the Russian Orthodox Church sent missionaries—among them Saint Herman of Alaska – to establish a formal mission in Alaska. Their missionary endeavors contributed to the conversion of many Alaskan natives to the Orthodox faith. A diocese was established, whose first bishop was Saint Innocent of Alaska. The headquarters of this North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was moved from Alaska to California around the mid-19th century.

It was moved again in the last part of the same century, this time to New York. This transfer coincided with a great movement of Eastern Catholics to the Eastern Orthodox Church in the eastern United States. This movement, which increased the numbers of Eastern Orthodox Christians in America, resulted from a conflict between John Ireland, the politically powerful Roman Catholic Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Alexis Toth, an influential Ruthenian Catholic priest. Archbishop Ireland's refusal to accept Toth's credentials as a priest induced Toth to join the Eastern Orthodox Church, and further resulted in the conversion of tens of thousands of other Uniate Catholics in North America to the Eastern Orthodox Church, under his guidance and inspiration. For this reason, Ireland is sometimes ironically remembered as the "Father of the Orthodox Church in America." These Uniates were received into Eastern Orthodoxy into the existing North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time large numbers of Greeks and other Eastern Orthodox Christians were also immigrating to America. At this time all Eastern Orthodox Christians in North America were united under the omophorion (Church authority and protection) of the Patriarch of Moscow, through the Russian Church's North American diocese. The unity was not merely theoretical, but was a reality, since there was then no other diocese on the continent. Under the aegis of this diocese, which at the turn of the 20th century was ruled by Bishop (and future Patriarch) Tikhon, Eastern Orthodox Christians of various ethnic backgrounds were ministered to, both non-Russian and Russian; a Syro-Arab mission was established in the episcopal leadership of Saint Raphael of Brooklyn, who was the first Eastern Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in America.

Orthodox Church in America (OCA)

Main article: Orthodox Church in America

Albanian Orthodox Church in Worcester, Massachusetts.

One of the effects of the persecution and administrative chaos wreaked on the Russian Orthodox Church by the Bolshevik Revolution was a flood of refugees from Russia to the United States, Canada, and Europe. The Revolution of 1917 severed large sections of the Russian church—dioceses in America, Japan, and Manchuria, as well as refugees in Europe—from regular contact with the mother church. In 1920 Patriarch Tikhon issued an ukase (decree) that dioceses of the Church of Russia that were cut off from the governance of the highest Church authority (i.e. the Patriarch) should continue independently until such time as normal relations with the highest Church authority could be resumed; and on this basis, the North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (known as the "Metropolia") continued to exist in a de facto autonomous mode of self-governance. The financial hardship that beset the North American diocese as the result of the Russian Revolution resulted in a degree of administrative chaos, with the result that other national Orthodox communities in North America turned to the churches in their respective homelands for pastoral care and governance.

A group of bishops who had left their sees in Russia gathered in Sremski Karlovci, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and adopted a clearly political monarchist stand. The group further claimed to speak as a synod for the entire "free" Russian church. This group, which to this day includes a sizable portion of the Russian emigration, was formally dissolved in 1922 by Patriarch Tikhon, who then appointed metropolitans Platon and Evlogy as ruling bishops in America and Europe, respectively. Both of these metropolitans continued to entertain relations intermittently with the synod in Karlovci, but neither of them accepted it as a canonical authority. Between the World Wars the Metropolia coexisted and at times cooperated with an independent synod later known as Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), sometimes also called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. The two groups eventually went their separate ways. ROCOR, which moved its headquarters to North America after the Second World War, claimed but failed to establish jurisdiction over all parishes of Russian origin in North America. The Metropolia, as a former diocese of the Russian Church, looked to the latter as its highest church authority, albeit one from which it was temporarily cut off under the conditions of the communist regime in Russia.

After World War II the patriarchate of Moscow made unsuccessful attempts to regain control over these groups. After resuming communication with Moscow in early 1960s, and being granted autocephaly in 1970, the Metropolia became known as the Orthodox Church in America. However, recognition of this autocephalic status is not universal, as the Ecumenical Patriarch (under whom is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America) and some other jurisdictions have not officially accepted it. The reasons for this are complex; nevertheless the Ecumenical Patriarch and the other jurisdictions remain in communion with the OCA. The patriarchate of Moscow thereby renounced its former canonical claims in the United States and Canada; it also acknowledged an autonomous church established in Japan that same year.

Other Eastern Orthodox churches

St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox church in Jackson, California

Today there are many Orthodox churches in the United States and Canada that are still bound to the Ecumenical or Antiochian patriarchates, or other overseas jurisdictions; in some cases these different overseas jurisdictions will have churches in the same U.S. city. However, there are also many "pan-orthodox" activities and organizations, both formal and informal, among Orthodox believers of all jurisdictions. One such organization is the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America (successor to SCOBA), which comprises North American Orthodox bishops from nearly all jurisdictions. (See list of Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in North America.)

In June 2002, the Antiochian Orthodox Church granted self-rule to the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America. Some observers see this as a step towards greater organizational unity in North America.

During the past 50 years there have come into existence in North America a number of Western Rite Orthodox parishes. These are sometimes labelled "Western Orthodox Churches" but this term is not generally used by Orthodox Christians of Eastern or Western rite. These are Orthodox Christians who use the Western forms of liturgy (Roman Rite) yet are Orthodox in their theology. The Antiochian Orthodox Church and ROCOR both have Western Rite parishes.

There are over 2,000 Orthodox parishes in the United States. Roughly two-thirds of these belong to the OCA, Greek and Antiochian jurisdictions, while the rest are divided among other jurisdictions.

Demographics

Churches belonging to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States

This is a list of all canonical Eastern Orthodox churches in the United States. They all form the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. These churches are in full communion with one another, and are all officially recognized by one another. The Orthodox Church in America is regarded as canonical and is in full communion with all the other groups, but its self-governance is questioned.

There may be as many as seven million people in the United States who self-identify as Orthodox due to ethnicity or being baptized as children. They may also be married in the church and baptize their children in the church, but they remain unknown to parishes and do not participate in church life. Many recent immigrants who have come to America also self-identify as Orthodox, but never participate in church life. The table below does not include either of these categories, limiting itself to those Orthodox believers who attend parish churches at least often enough to be counted in the official parish statistics. They are listed as "adherents." The "regular attendees" are the number of people who attend church on a typical Sunday.

The listing is according to canonical position in the order of the diptychs (the ceremonial rankings of jurisdictions within the Orthodox Church). For each North American branch (archdiocese or diocese), the table also lists the jurisdiction of which it is part. The Orthodox Church in America is a jurisdiction onto itself.

By jurisdiction, in the USA

Parent Jurisdiction	North American branch	Adherents	Regular Attendees	Attendees as % of adherents	Bishops	Monasteries	Parishes	Average Parish Size
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople	Greek Orthodox Archdiocese	476,878	107,289	22.5%	14	20	525	908
	American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese	10,457	4,936	47.2%	1	0	79	132
	Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA	22,362	6,857	30.7%	2	0	101	221
	Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America	700	185	26.4%	1	0	2	350
	Vicariate for the Palestinian/Jordanian Communities	6,775	815	12%		0	9	753
Patriarchate of Antioch	Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese	74,527	27,256	36.6%	9	2	247	302
Moscow Patriarchate	Russian Patriarchal Parishes in the USA	12,377	1,952	15.8%	1	2	30	413
	Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia	27,677	8,954	32.4%	8	10	136	204
Serbian Orthodox Church	Serbian Orthodox Eparchies	68,760	15,331	22.3%	4	18	163	559
Romanian Orthodox Church	Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of the Americas	11,203	2,158	19.3%	2	1	31	361
Bulgarian Orthodox Church	Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese	2,212	989	44.7%	2	2	20	111
Georgian Orthodox Church	Georgian Orthodox parishes in the USA	920	345	37.5%	1	1	6	153
Orthodox Church in America	N/A	84,928	33,797	39.8%	9	20	551	154
Total		799,776	210,864	26.4%	53	70	1,860	430

Groups whose canonical status is contested

Macedonian Orthodox Church of St. Nedela in Ajax, Ontario.

This is a list of major churches within the United States which are not in communion with the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, and are therefore not recognized as canonical by the worldwide Orthodox Church. However, these groups regard themselves as canonical, and may or may not recognize other churches as canonical. In 2021, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine established a vicariate for parishes outside of Ukraine, which came to be known as the Vicariate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate as canonical but not by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2022, the Macedonian Orthodox Church re-entered full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox metropolises; however, the Macedonian Orthodox Diocese of America and Canada did not join either the American or the Canadian Assembly of Canonical Bishops in those countries.

By church, in the USA

Jurisdiction	Adherents	Regular Attendees	Attendees as % of adherents	Bishops	Monasteries	Parishes	Average Parish Size
Holy Orthodox Church in North America	2,212	1,703	77%	2	7	27	82
Vicariate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the United States and Canada	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	0	0	16	Unknown

Eastern Orthodoxy in Canada

Adherents of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Canada traditionally belong to several ethnic communities and ecclesiastical jurisdictions (canonical and noncanonical). According to official 2011 census data, Greek Orthodox community constitutes the largest Eastern Orthodox community in Canada, with 220,255 adherents. It is followed by other communities: Russian Orthodox (25,245), Ukrainian Orthodox (23,845), Serbian Orthodox (22,780), Romanian Orthodox (7,090), Macedonian Orthodox (4,945), Bulgarian Orthodox (1,765), Antiochian Orthodox (1,220) and several other minor communities within the scope of Eastern Orthodoxy.

• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople — Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America
• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople — American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople — Archdiocese of Canada
• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople — Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
• Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch — Archdiocese of North America
• Bulgarian Orthodox Church — Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia
• Georgian Orthodox Church — Metropolis of Batumi, Lazeti, North America and Canada
• Romanian Orthodox Church — Diocese of Canada
• Russian Orthodox Church — Patriarchial Parishes in Canada
• Russian Orthodox Church — Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
• Serbian Orthodox Church — Eparchy of Canada
• Macedonian Orthodox Church — Diocese of America and Canada
• Orthodox Church in America — Archdiocese of Canada

See also

• Timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in America
• List of Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in North America
• List of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in the United States
• Bibliography of Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States
• History of the Eastern Orthodox Church
• Peter E. Gillquist
• Herman of Alaska
• Innocent of Alaska
• John of Shanghai and San Francisco
• Princess Ileana of Romania
• Raphael of Brooklyn
• Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow
• Alexis Toth

Sources

• FitzGerald, Thomas (2007). "Eastern Christianity in the United States". The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 269–279. ISBN 9780470766392.
• Vuković, Sava (1998). History of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America and Canada 1891–1941. Kragujevac: Kalenić.